A dental implant for insertion into the jaw is defined as that part of a dental implant assembly which is implanted directly into the patient's jaw to support an implant attachment. The implant attachment normally consists of a replacement-tooth neck portion and a separate replacement-tooth head portion, the so-called tooth crown.
Generally, the overall implant assembly is desired to have a linear configuration, i.e., the jaw-mounted dental implant and the implant attachment are arranged approximately on the same longitudinal axis. However, the patient's jawbone, the nerve tracts extending therein and other marginal conditions will not always allow the jaw-mounted dental implant to be implanted into the jawbone substantially transversely to the occlusal plane. If the jaw-mounted dental implant is implanted at an inclination relative to the occlusal plane, the implant attachment must be fixed to the jaw-mounted dental implant at a corresponding inclination.
A dental implant assembly comprising an implant attachment inclined relative to the jaw-mounted dental implant is described in EP 0 449 334 A1. A problem in inclined implant attachments resides in the non-axial introduction of force into the jaw-mounted dental implant, which, due to the resulting high rotational moments, leads to high radial forces which will be transmitted to the jawbone nearly in a punctiform manner. In these regions, there will thus exist a high likelihood of bone deterioration, resulting in a further degradation of the anchoring of the dental implant in the patient's jaw.